The Lakers signed Prince today with a special case for two years, so the Lakers will apply hard cap in the 2023-24 season. So, what is hard cap? Why is the Lakers applied to hard cap? Let’s find out.
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First of all, let’s know what hard cap is.
Regarding the salary cap, NBA has drawn four lines, which are:
1. Poor line-the team’s salary must be higher than this number (otherwise it will be fined), and the poor line is 90% of the season’s salary cap;
2. Salary cap-the standard of the other three lines, 2023-24 season is 136,021,000 dollars;
3. Tax line-the tax line starts to be paid when it exceeds this line, and the season of 2023-24 is 165,294,000 dollars;
4. Local tyrant line (the new labor agreement adds the division of the first local tyrant line and the second local tyrant line)-The first local tyrant line in the 2023-24 season is 172,346,000 dollars, the second local tyrant line is 182,794,000 dollars.
Among them, the first local tyrant line is hard cap.
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If a team’s salary exceeds the local tyrant line, they will be subject to the following series of restrictions:
The team cannot use the double-year exception (it can only be used once every two years, up to two years, for signing free players, hence the name);
The team can only use the tax version of the middle-class EXCEPTION (TAXPAYER MID-LEVEL EXCEPTION). The starting salary of the normal middle-class EXCEPTION in the 2023-24 season is 12,403,000 dollars, the starting salary of the tax-paid middle-class special case in the 2023-24 season is 5,000,000 dollars;
The team cannot accept players in the first sign-and-change transaction.
The above is the sanction of more than hard cap.
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On the other hand, if a team triggers the above situation, that is, it uses the double-year special case, or signs first and then changes, or uses the middle-class special case that exceeds the “tax version, then they have entered the limit of hard cap. They must keep the total salary below hard cap for the rest of the season!
The Lakers belong to this “reverse” situation. They used the two-year special case to sign Prince, so hard cap will apply.
Details and cases of NBA labor agreement
